“This kid has sold nearly 50 million copies. This kid has no business not having his money. This child has absolutely no business not having his paper and he has no business not being happy” – Bizzy Bone, May 3rd 2005.
Now imagine if every rapper had to hand in a resume before releasing an album. Picture being an executive at a record label and having these credentials come across your desk:
12 years experience
Grammy Award Winner
American Music Award Winner
Sold over 30 million records
Recorded with the Notorious B.I.G, Tupac Shakur, and Eazy E.
Logic tells you that any record label exec would love to have the chance to have a commodity like this under their imprint, but in the case of Bryon “Bizzy Bone” McCane, for some reason logic doesn’t apply.
As a part of Bone Thugs N Harmony Bizzy contributed to the creation a style that has helped transcend hip hop. Bone brought singing and harmony to the forefront and since then you can’t turn on a radio without hearing a rapper do their best to add that flavor to their raps. So why is it that in 2005 Bizzy Bone finds himself without a record label?
The 29 year rapper has been in the game for 12 years. He should be sitting poolside at his mansion sipping on a beer and enjoying life. Instead the Columbus born rapper is going city to city and living in hotel rooms. Doesn’t seem fair, does it?
Well in my eyes its not. I refuse to fall into the trap of just throwing this into the large pile of stories involving multi-platinum rappers that haven’t been compensated and taken care of.
When writing this piece I wanted to be real careful with the way I told Bizzy’s story. I didn’t want him to come across as some poor lonely rapper who is lost with nowhere to go. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Despite what people have written and said, he is not crazy, he is not on crack and he is not an alcoholic. Bizzy has a firm grip on reality. He refuses to keep dwelling on the past and is adamant about moving forward.
“What’s done is done, what’s known is known and this is the way it is” said Bizzy last month.
When talking to the former Bone Thugs N Harmony member, I was amazed at how a man who has gone through so much could have such a calm and rational outlook on life in general.
Make no mistake, although he was calm and rational I don’t think he was content. I think its time somebody lent a helping hand to someone who has given to so many people and gotten so little in return.
If you turn on BET or any Hip-Hop radio station its obvious that Bizzy has the talent to hang with anyone on top right now. He has a fan base that most rappers only dream of but he still finds himself without a label. Once again logic doesn’t apply when you examine the situation.
The only thing that comes to mind is that these labels are scared of what they think Bizzy is all about. They don’t want to go against the grain when trying to put out their next platinum record.
The song, “Hip-Hop Baby” has been on Power 106’s Top 4 at 4 and top 7 at 7 count down for months but nobody seems to want to recognize the success of the track. Instead Bizzy has been featured in the news for a radio interview in Houston.
Instead of focusing on the positives with Bizzy, everyone seemed to want to go back and focus on the negatives. When the discussing the interview the same stereotypes that have plagued Bizzy his whole career came roaring back. “He’s a crack head, he’s a drunk, and he’s crazy.”
It seems like people keep saying the same thing when trying to characterize Bizzy and what’s even worse is that it seems record labels are listening rather then making their own educated conclusions.
It’s time for people like Jermaine Dupri, Master P, Jay Z and Dr. Dre to start getting back to what Hip-Hop is all about, risk taking and going against the grain.
Could you imagine what hip hop would be like if people didn’t take a chance on N.W.A? Picture what rap would be like if Jimmy Iovine believed everything he heard about Dr. Dre and didn’t give him a chance with Aftermath?
At the current time Bizzy is walking on a journey all by himself. After the separation from Bone Thugs it seems that the industry has figured that as a solo artist the risk isn’t worth the potential reward.
Bizzy has managed to survive being kidnapped and abused. He’s managed to overcome the murder of his younger brother. He’s endured the stress of being trapped in possibly one of the worst record deals in Hip-Hop history. The one thing Bizzy can’t seem to shake is his reputation. He has been painted with a certain brush and it seems nobody wants to give him a chance to tell his story the way it’s supposed to be told.
Although I can’t see into the future, something tells me that if someone gives Bizzy a chance to tell his story they might have their next multi-platinum project on their hands.
His resume speaks for itself; all he needs is a chance.
“I would really, really love to just lean back and just relax and do music. Music is my joy, that’s me being able to release and let that other stuff go.” – Bizzy Bone
Agree? Disagree? This writer can be reached at georgeskoutakis@hotmail.com or editorials@allhiphop.com